Monday, September 14, 2009

Sweet, Sweet Linc

Lincoln is a very sweet boy. He is tender and thoughtful and wants to be a good boy. BUT he is OBSESSED with Lego. I mean obsessed. Since we no longer watch tv/computer games and only do one movie a week, this is how he fills his time. He makes very elaborate space ships, and space stations. He will spend quite some time working hard on a new design, and then give it to his brother to play with. He talks about what he is going to build next, shows me the features on the projects he is working on, takes them to bed with him... He LOVES lego. But, he feels he doesn't have ENOUGH lego. Paul and I are trying really hard to cut back on our spending, so we have talked about how Christmas is coming up and he should think about which set to ask Santa for. For about 2.5 weeks, it was almost out of control how desperate he was about getting more lego. He cried, begged, pleaded... he NEEDED more lego. FOR TWO AND A HLAF WEEKS! He was driving me crazy!!!! So we started doing an allowance. We have always had a chore chart where the kids are responsible for the number of chores as how old they are, but we weren't in a super routine and only really did it a couple times a week. Now, we told Lincoln that for every sticker he gets $0.10. He collects every Saturday. First, we take out tithing, then we divide the remaining into 2 jars; mission and spending. This really is a painfully slow way to get a lego set, but Paul and I feel like we need to teach them to save, to work hard, save for a mission... etc. So that is the plan. He has now been saving for a few weeks and feels like he is in control - and can buy that lego set when he works hard enough. (And more to the point, he no longer asks for more Lego.) MISSION! ACCOMPLISHED!

He came home today all on fire after learning about Terry Fox. "Mom, were you alive when Terry Fax ran partway across Canada?" Did you know he had a prosthetic and did it on one leg?" " When I grow up, I want to be just like Terry Fox" and then, (this is the part that gets me):

"Mom, in 2 weeks when we have the Terry Fox run, I want to give all my money to help the people who need prosthetics. I just want to dedicate my life to helping others."